Severus' Daughter: Year One

Chapter 14: Confronting Albus

Minerva stormed through the school faster than she ever had, to her recollection anyway. Her magic felt like it was about to burst out of her, but she didn't care.

How dare that man do this to her son? To her? To Regulus?

She burst into his office, not caring for decorum, or the shock on his face, as she practically pounced on him, punching him three times, for herself, Severus and Regulus. Then an extra time for her grandchild who she didn't know because of him.

"Minerva!" he yelled as she backed away from him, glaring at her, he was clutching his face and she grinned, "What the hell is wrong with you now?"

"What is wrong with me? What about you, you wretched, cruel, bastard of a man?" she cried out, her accent peeking out more.

"What are you talking about?" he said, looking confused.

"Our grandchild,"

"Rosalie is fine,"

"Not her, the one who died a week after his birth. The one who you removed from mine and Severus' memories. The one Severus gave birth to. The one who you made destroy the friendship, which was actually love, between Regulus and Severus,"

He looked at her in shock, and fear, "I…"

"No, Albus. What the fuck gives you the right to mess with our lives like this? Honestly, after the Horcrux business I didn't think you could get worse, but no, here you are making Severus forget his own son,"

"I didn't like seeing him in pain," Albus' excuse was weak and she could see that.

"Hm, I'm sure it was horrible, you know, his child dying. But I can't remember it, and he couldn't remember it until now. But in any case, you don't just erase painful memories from someone, especially if it involves their bloody child. What the bloody hell were you thinking? And I want the truth this time, not some bullshit about wanting to get rid of his pain,"

Albus just stared at her, trying not to say anything, though she could see him covering things up as his mind worked.

"Tell me!" she yelled, "Tell me why you keep bloody doing things like this to your own bloody son. Tell me why you keep manipulating us. Tell me why you keep hurting us. Tell me the bloody truth. And tell me if there are any more surprises in store for us. You promised you would fix all your mistakes, and yet we keep finding things out. So tell me why. Tell me what else you have done,"

She couldn't stop herself from pulling out her wand and shooting a stinging curse at his arm, she smiled at the yelp he produced.

"Fine," he said sternly, "I needed Severus with Lily, okay. Not with Regulus. I needed Severus and Lily to make the prophecy child who would defeat Voldemort for good. I needed to make sure the child was raised right, so that they would do what they were tasked with. And I needed to make sure Severus and Regulus fell out of love, and stayed away from each other. I needed a spy, and Severus would have been the perfect person, but he wouldn't have done it if he was with Regulus still,"

Minerva growled, "Do you know what caused Sev to go into labour ten weeks early?"

There was a flicker of… something in his eyes and she glared harder at the man.

"Did you do something to cause it? Did you kill their child? Did you-"

"Minerva, who do you take me for?" he looked appalled at her.

"Can you really blame me for thinking such a thing when you were going to offer our granddaughter up to the enemy like a pig for slaughter?" she snapped.

"No, I didn't do anything to cause premature labour. I didn't kill the baby, either. I was… I'm not heartless, Minerva, but I needed my plan to work. I needed a spy. I needed Severus. And he wouldn't have done what I needed him to if he was still grieving his son, and in love with Regulus. Especially if they were to have more children. I needed a prophecy child. Any child of theirs wouldn't have worked. But Severus and Lily's child would have. So, when the boy died, I wiped Severus' memory of the event, and of his love for Regulus. I changed his memories so he wouldn't get suspicious. I kept Regulus' memories intact to drive a wedge between them and keep him away from Severus. I'm sorry. But this needed to work,"

"Your plan working meant more to you than your bloody family? Your son? Your grandson? And why the hell are you talking about the prophecy? Lily was already pregnant when that blasted thing was told,"

At the guilty look in his eyes she growled again, and shot another stinging curse at his other arm.

"No, I made everyone think that. But it was told to me in nineteen seventy-five, and there were no children being born that fit the bill. So, when Lily and Alice, both of whom fit the description along with Severus and Frank, told me they were expecting at the end of July, I knew it was time to reveal it. So I had Sybill do an interview with me in the pub, and told her to say it again. Obviously she didn't remember what she said, so I had to write it down for her and told her to act as she would if she were speaking a prophecy, but-"

Minerva punched him again.

"So all of this has just been about your war? Our family, all of it? You have just been using all of us, including the students of this school, as pawns on your own chessboard. You have been using us for your own means. Manipulating us. Messing with our minds and lives. All of it is just for you, and what you want,"

"We have to defeat Voldemort, Minerva,"

"Yes, we do. But not at the expense of children. Not at the expense of everyone and everything we hold dear. Not at the expense of families. Or free will. Or memories. You can't just ruin everyone's lives for the sake of yourself and your war, Albus. We will fight him because we want him out of our lives. We don't need your manipulations. You are just a bloody control freak who thinks you know everything, and what is the best. Your bloody 'greater good' and all, right?"

He said nothing. Just stared at his desk.

"Please tell me there is nothing else you have done. Especially to Severus," she said, there was a pleading edge to her voice, her accent thick with emotions.

The way he looked at her answered it well enough for her not to need words.

"For fuck sake, Albus. What the hell else could you have done? You know what, don't answer. I have half the mind to take my family to a different country, and enrol Rosalie into a different school. In fact, I just might. It will certainly keep my family safer,"

"Minerva, you can't just take them and yourself away. What am I supposed to do then? We need Rosalie-"

"No, you need Rosalie. She is a child. A child who has been hurt and is trying to heal. She needs a safe place to do so. But anywhere with you will just mean you trying to drag her into your bloody war. Wars are meant to be fought by adults, not children,"

"The prophecy-"

"The prophecy means nothing. Prophecies are self-fulfilling. If she does nothing then we can still defeat him,"

"But it has already started. He has already marked her,"

"Hm, and why did he do that? Because he found out. If you hadn't decided to hold that fake interview and told Sybill to re-tell her prophecy, then none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have known, and he perhaps could have been truly defeated by now. But no, you just have to meddle with everything, even a war which you claimed to have wanted to be over. But instead you did the one thing that truly brought children into it, when they were babies. Rosalie and Neville didn't deserve to be dragged into this war, nor did Severus, Lily, or the other Marauders, Alice, Frank, or any other child that you have manipulated. So you can do this war on your own, because I am keeping my family and the children of this school out of it. Destroy the Horcruxes, and we will find a way to keep Rosalie alive whilst destroying the one in her. And keep away from us,"

And she stormed out. She couldn't stand seeing him any longer.

She stopped outside the hospital wing and took a shaky breath, running her fingers through her hair which was in a state of disarray that she had never let it get in before. But she couldn't find it in her to care.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to destroy the man who had destroyed so much for the sake of his war, his 'greater good'.

But she couldn't. Her baby needed her. Her granddaughter needed her.

Now that she really thought about it, the 'greater good' sounded rather familiar. But for the life of her she couldn't quite pinpoint where it came from. Where had she heard it before that wasn't Albus?

She shrugged and took another shaky breath.

She entered the hospital wing to find Regulus sitting in a chair next to Severus' bed, his head in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees. Severus was asleep still, though she could see the tear tracks on his pale cheeks and it caused more pain to surge through her heart at the thought of her baby hurting like he was.

She may not have carried or birthed him, she may have missed all his first milestones, or been obliviated of things, but he was hers.

She walked over to Regulus and placed a gentle, supportive hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you," she muttered gently as she sat on Severus' bed.

"No worries," he whispered, "Is he dead?"

"Unfortunately not," she said, "Will you be okay to stay with Severus a bit longer whilst I go and check on Rosalie, and grab him some bits?"

Her heart hurt at the flash of pain in his eyes, "Rosalie?" he asked unsurely.

"His… His and Lily's daughter," she said quietly.

His eyes widened, "I thought Lily's daughter was with Potter?"

"Yeah, well, we were made to believe that for a while, also. But Rosalie and Lily went to James for protection, and Albus obliviated us of any memories we had of Lily and Severus' relationship. Lily sent a letter to Severus that was delivered to him at the beginning of the summer holidays, with a charm to undo those specific memory changes, and we got Rosalie back. Although, now that I think about it, based on the memories Severus now has, some of the memories we do have are made up, as according to my memory Lily and he started dating during their sixth year," she growled. Honestly, what was that man up to?

She didn't think she wanted to know at that point after everything they had found out already.

"Right," Regulus nodded, looking both sad and resigned, and she wished she knew what to do for him, "Erm, sure, I will stay with Severus whilst you go and check on her,"

"Thank you," she said, before placing a gentle kiss on both Severus' and Regulus' foreheads, not missing the shaky breath that Regulus took, and she went to Poppy's office to use the floo.

She stepped out into the living room of their cottage to find a tired looking Remus and Sirius cuddled together on the sofa, and Rosalie's kitten was prancing around. But otherwise the room was empty, and quiet.

They both stood when they saw her, worry in their eyes.

"How is he?" Remus asked.

And she broke. Her knees buckled, and she cried as Remus and Sirius held her, and tried to comfort her with their words.

"Where's mummy?" Rosalie asked quietly from the doorway after who knew how long.

The three of them looked up at her, and Minerva tried to smile at her as she extended her hand. Rosalie walked over and knelt with them, holding Minerva's hand.

"Where's mummy?" she asked again.

"He's resting in the hospital wing, sweetie," Minerva said gently, trying to get hold of her emotions.

"Why? Is he hurt?" Rosalie looked so worried, and scared, and it broke her heart just a little more.

"Not physically, no. He… he has had some rather upsetting news and he needs some time to rest, and heal. His friend is with him, though," Minerva said.

"Can I see him?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but not right now. When he is feeling better you may see him, but he is asleep right now," Minerva said.

"But maybe I can help," Rosalie said fiercely.

"I'm sure you would be a great helper, sweetie, but this… What Severus is going through right now is… It's not a simple thing, and it is incredibly painful, perhaps the most painful thing a person can experience. And although we will all be here to support him through it, he needs a bit of time with his friend before he will be okay with others. They need to work through some things first. And your mummy needs you to stay here, and be a good girl, until he is… doing better. Can you do that for him? I promise that you will be able to see him when he is ready,"

"O-Okay," Rosalie nodded.

Minerva pulled her gently into her arms and kissed the top of her head as her small body melted into her chest. She looked at Sirius and Remus who were both looking at her with concerned eyes, she just shook her head, though. She couldn't say anything with Rosalie in the room. She couldn't do that to her. If Severus wanted her to know, then he would tell her, or ask someone else to.

She sighed shakily, trying still to get her emotions under control.

But Merlin was it hard.

Hiya, I hope you are all well!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, it was a tough one to write, but I hope it is okay. I did the best I could with it, and my mind and everything that has been going on in the family lately.

I have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which you are all welcome to join if you would like to and are able to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes and more. It is also where I have an update schedule and will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on, both original works and fanfics. I also have a poll going over there where you can vote, for the last time, for who you want to be Severus' forever partner in this fic. Yes, I know he used to date Regulus, but do you think they can work through this pain that was inflicted upon them both by the old goat? Or do you think Severus is already with, or will find someone else? So yeah, if you want to give me some extra votes then join the group and vote, or leave who you want to be Severus' partner in the comments and I will add them to my tally. At the moment I believe it is a very close call between Regulus Black and Bill Weasley, but some others are creeping up behind the two of them, so we will see ;)

I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

Kind regards,

Paige xx